A floor height variable type expansible/contractible multistaged seating system

Abstract: To assure that each spectator sitting on his seat (10) enjoys a performance in a theater or the like at his desired height, a floor height adjusting mechanism is mounted on each of a plurality of movable platforms (1A-1F) constituting a floor height variable type expansible/contractible multi-staged spectator seating system. Usually, the floor height adjusting mechanism is constructed in the form of a screw driving unit which is composed of a motor (8), a screw shaft (7) adapted to be rotationally driven by the motor (8), and a support column (5) fixedly secured to each movable platform. The lowermost end of the support column (5) is operatively connected to the lowermost end of the screw shaft (7) for rotatably holding the screw shaft (7). Otherwise, the floor height adjusting mechanism is constructed in the form of a combination of a screw driving unit (21) with a moving pulley unit, and this type of floor height adjusting mechanism is preferably employable for a lowermost movable platform (1A) which requires that an adjustable height can be increased.

Description: The present invention relates generally to a floor height variable type expansible/contractible multi-staged spectator seating system usable in a theater, an athletic stadium or the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to a multi-staged spectator seating system of the foregoing type including a plurality of movable platforms each having a variable floor height. A typical conventional movable platform type spectator seating system is disclosed in an official gazette of Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication NO. 63-171561. According to this prior invention, the spectator seating system includes a plurality of movable platforms arranged in the spaced relationship as seen in the upward/downward direction, and one end of each movable platform is secured via a support arm to a support column adapted to be raised up and lowered by a raising/lowering power cylinder to change the floor height of each movable platform as desired. In addition, a tilting power cylinder is operatively connected to the support arm so as to change the tilting angle of the support arm in order to assure that the height of an upper movable platform as measured from a lower movable platform is kept constant with respect to all the movable platforms. However, this conventional spectator seating system has problems as noted below. One of the problems is that it is impossible to individually change the floor height of each movable platform. The other problem is that the floor height changing mechanism arranged for each movable platform is complicated in structure and requires a large space for mounting it in the spectator seating system. The present invention has been made in consideration of the aforementioned background. An object of the present invention is to provide a floor height variable type expansible/ contractible multi-staged spectator seating system which assures that the height of each of a plurality of movable platforms can be adjusted as desired. Another object of the present invention is to provide a floor height variable type expansible/contractible multi-staged spectator seating system which assures that an adjustable height of each of a plurality of moving platforms constituting the spectator seating system can be increased preferably for the lowermost movable platform by combining a screw driving unit with a moving pulley unit. Summary of the Invention The invention is as defined in the accompanying independent claims 1, 3 and 5. Independent Claims 1, 3 and 5 have each been divided into a two-part form based on the assumption that the aforesaid Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 63-171 561 is the nearest state of the art. Thus, all of the features defined in the pre-characterizing part of Claims 1, 3 and 5 are to be found in said Japanese Utility Model. Objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from reading of the following description which has been made in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Short description of the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a schematic side view of a floor height variable type expansible/contractible multi-staged spectator seating system constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, showing the state that a plurality of movable platforms expanded one after another in the forward direction assume their lowest positions. Fig. 2 is a schematic side view of the spectator seating system shown in Fig. 1, showing the state that the respective movable platforms expanded one after another in the forward direction assume their uppermost positions. Fig. 3 is a schematic side view of the spectator seating system, showing the state that the respective movable platforms expanded one after another in the forward direction assume their intermediate positions as seen in the vertical direction. Fig. 4 is a fragmentary enlarged side view of the spectator seating system shown in Fig. 1, showing that the movable platforms at the second stage to the sixth stage assume their lowest positions. Fig. 5 is a fragmentary enlarged side view of the spectator seating system, showing that the movable platforms at the second stage to the sixth stage assume their uppermost positions. Fig. 6 is a fragmentary enlarged side view of the spectator seating system, showing that the movable platform at the first stage assumes its lowest position. Fig. 7 is a fragmentary enlarged side view of the spectator seating system, showing that the movable platform at the first stage assumes its highest position. Fig. 8 is a schematic side view of the spectator seating system, showing the state that the respective movable platforms are retracted to assume their inoperative positions. The present invention will now be described in detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred embodiments thereof. Fig. 1 to Fig. 3 show by way of schematic side views the structure of a floor height variable type expansible/ contractible multi-staged spectator seating system (hereinafter referred to simply as a spectator seating system) constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, respectively, wherein the seating system includes a plurality of movable platforms 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E and 1F which are successively displaced one after another in the forward direction to assume their expanded state. Specifically, Fig. 1 shows the operative state that a plurality of raising/ lowering support columns 5 on each movable are lowered to assume their lowest positions, Fig. 2 shows the operative state that the support columns 5 are raised up to assume their uppermost positions, and Fig. 3 shows the operative state that the support columns 5 are held at the desired intermediate positions between the lowest positions ant the uppermost positions. It should be noted that a plurality of raising/ lowering support columns 5 and a plurality of spectator's chairs stand upright on the respective movable platforms 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E and 1F but only one support column 5 and one spectator's chair are shown on each movable platform for the purpose of simplification of illustration. Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 are enlarged side views of second to sixth movable platforms 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E and 1F, respectively. Fig. 4 shows the operative state that a movable platform is lowered to assume a lowest position. A stationary support column 4 stands upright on a movable wagon 2, and a support member 6 is fixedly secured to the support column 4. In addition, a raising/lowering support column 5 is fixedly secured to a floor portion 3 of the movable platform, and a screw driving unit 8 is mounted on the raising/lowering support column 5. The screw driving unit is constructed in the following manner. A screw shaft 7 is rotatably supported on the raising/ lowering support column 5 with a vertical attitude, and a screw driving unit 8 such as a motor or the like disposed on the raising/lowering support column 5 is operatively connected to the screw shaft 7. A plurality of female threads 6a are formed in the support member 6, and a plurality of male threads on the screw shaft 7 are threadably engaged with the female threads 6a in the support member 6. A turning up/down unit 9 is arranged on the floor portion 3 of the movable platform for turnably supporting a chair 10 on the floor portion 3. In Fig. 4, reference numeral 12 designates a plurality of moving wheels. Since the turning up/down unit 9 for the chair 10 does not form any part of the present invention, description on the turning up/down unit 9 is herein neglected for the purpose of simplification. When the screw shaft 7 is rotated by the screw driving unit 8 while the movable platform is lowered to the lowest position as shown in Fig. 4, the raising/lowering support column 5 is raised up by a distance H 1 until it reaches a highest position shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 show by way of side views the structure of a movable platform at the first stage constructed in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, respectively. Since the movable platform 1A at the first stage normally has a small floor height, the length of a screw shaft 20 is limitatively determined. To cope with this problem, a pulley driving unit having the following structure is arranged on the first movable platform 1A at the first stage so as to enable the height of the movable platform 1A to be adjusted within the wide range. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 6, a guide holder 13 is fixedly secured to a stationary support column 4 so that a raising/lowering guide shaft 15 can be raised up and lowered in the vertical direction with the aid of the guide holder 13. An intermediate raising/lowering support column 16 and a support member 17 having a plurality of female threads 17a formed therein are fixedly secured to the raising/lowering guide shaft 15, and a pulley 18 is rotatably held below the intermediate raising/lowering support column 16 with the aid of the raising/lowering guide shaft 15. A raising/lowering support column 19 is fixedly secured to the movable platform 1A, a screw shaft 20 is rotatably mounted on the raising/lowering support column 19, and a plurality of male threads on the screw shaft 20 are threadably engaged with the female threads 17a in the support member 17. A screw driving unit 21 such as a motor or the like is disposed on the raising/lowering support shaft 19, and a screw shaft 20 is operatively connected to the screw driving unit 21 with a perpendicular attitude. An elongated joint member 22 such as a chain, a wire rope or the like is caused to extend around the pulley 18 disposed below the intermediate raising/ lowering support column 16 in such a manner that one end of the joint member 22 is fastened to the raising/lowering support column 19 at a joint point 23 and the other end of the same is fastened to the stationary support column 4 at a joint point 24. A turning up/down apparatus 9 is arranged on a floor portion 3 of the movable platform 1A so that a chair 10 is turned up or down with the aid of the turning up/down apparatus 9 as desired. Referring to Fig. 6 again, when the screw shaft 20 is rotated by activating the screw driving unit 21, the raising/ lowering support column 19 starts to be raised up, causing it to pull up the joint member 22 fastened to the raising/lowering support column 4. At this time, since the other end of the joint member 22 is fastened to the stationary support column 4 at the joint point 24, the pulley 18 is increasingly raised up. As the pulley 18 is raised up in that way, the intermediate raising/lowering support column 16 and the support member 17 are also raised up. Since the pulley 18 serves as a moving pulley, it is raised up by a distance equal to a half of the length of pulling-up of the joint member 22. Fig. 7 shows by way of side view the operative state that the movable platform 1A is raised up to reach a highest position. It is desirable that a sum of the raised-up distance H 2 of the screw shaft 20 and the raised-up distance H 3 (which is equal to a half of H 2 ) is designed to be equal to the raised-up distance H 1 of each of the second movable platform 1B to the sixth movable platform 1F (see Fig. 5). Fig. 8 shows by way of side view the inoperative state that all the chairs 10 are turnably folded down in the forward direction with the aid of the turning up/down apparatuses 9 and the respective movable platforms 1A to 1F are telescopically contracted in the rearward direction by operating a driving apparatus (not shown) until each of them assumes an accommodated state. While the present invention has been described above with respect to the case that the spectator seating system includes six movable platforms, it of course is obvious that the number of movable platforms can arbitrarily be changed to another one. In addition, in this embodiment, description has been made above with respect to the spectator seating system wherein only the movable platform 1A at the first stage is equipped with a moving pulley unit. Alternatively, it is acceptable that in addition to the movable platform 1A, each of an arbitrary number of movable platforms is equipped with a moving pulley unit. Although the present invention has been described above with respect to two preferred embodiments thereof, it should of course be understood that the present invention should not be limited only to these embodiments but various change or modification may be made without any departure from the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. Reference signs in the claims are intended for better understanding and shall not limit the scope.

Claims: A floor height variable type expansible/contractible multi-staged spectator seating system having a plurality of movable platforms (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F) being arranged in said spectator seating system, said plurality of movable platforms (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F) being successively expanded one after another in the forward direction when said spectator seating system is used and successively contracted one after another in the rearward direction when said spectator seating system is not used, the heights of said plurality of movable platforms (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F) as measured from the floor surface being successively increased, and moreover, being changeable as desired, a number of spectator's seats (10) being arranged on each of said movable platforms (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F) in a side-by-side relationship, a plurality of movable wagons (2) supporting said movable platforms (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F) in the raised state or in the lowered state thereon, and each of said movable wagons (2) including a stationary support column (4) standing upright on the upper surface thereof; characterized in that , said spectator's seats (10) are turnably raised up when said spectator seating system is used and turnably folded down when said spectator seating system is not used, said plurality of movable wagons (2) are successively connected one after another, a screw driving unit (8) is arranged between each of said movable platforms (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F) and its associated stationary support column (4) for adjusting the floor height of each of said movable platforms (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F), and each of said screw driving units (8) comprises a rotational driving power source, a screw shaft (7) having a plurality of male threads formed thereon to be threadably engaged with a plurality of female threads (6a) formed in a support member (6) fixedly secured to said stationary support column (4), and a support column (5) fixedly secured to each of said movable platforms (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F), the lowermost end of said support column (5) being operatively connected to the lowermost end of said screw shaft (7) for rotatably holding said screw shaft (7). A floor height variable type expansible/contractible multi-staged spectator seating system as claimed in Claim 1, characterized in that when said spectator seating system is used, a lowermost movable platform (1A) is expanded in the forward direction by a longest distance while maintaining a smallest height, an uppermost movable platform (1F) is expanded in the forward direction by a shortest distance while maintaining a largest height, and other movable platforms (1B, 1C, 1D, 1E) are successively expanded one after another in the forward direction by an intermediate distance while maintaining an intermediate height. A floor height variable type expansible/contractible multi-staged spectator seating system having a plurality of movable platforms (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F) being arranged in said spectator seating system, said plurality of movable platforms (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F) being successively expanded one after another in the forward direction when said spectator seating system is used and successively contracted one after another in the rearward direction when said spectator seating system is not used, the heights of said plurality of movable platforms (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F) as measured from the floor surface being successively increased, and moreover, being changeable as desired, a number of spectator's seats (10) being arranged on each of said movable platforms (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F) in a side-by side relationship, a plurality of movable wagons (2) supporting said movable platforms (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F) in the raised state or in the lowered state thereon, and each of said movable wagons (2) including a stationary support column (4) standing upright on the upper surface thereof; characterized in that said spectator's seats (10) are turnably raised up when said spectator seating system is used and turnably folded down when said spectator seating system is not used, said plurality of movable wagons (2) are successively connected one after another, a screw driving unit (21) is arranged between each of said movable platforms (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F) and its associated stationary support columns (4) for adjusting the floor height of each of said movable platforms (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F), a first support member (13) is fixedly secured to said stationary support column (4), a moving pulley unit is arranged between said screw driving unit (21) and its associated stationary support column (4) for adjusting the floor height of its associated movable platform (1A, 1B, 1C; 1D; 1E, 1F) in cooperation with said screw driving unit (21), and a guide shaft (15) extends vertically through a hole in said first support member (13) of said support column (4), a pulley (18) is rotatably held at the lowermost end of said guide shaft (15), and a joint member (22) extends around said pulley (18) for operatively connecting said first support member (13) to its corresponding screw driving unit (21) via said joint member (22), one end of said joint member (22) being fastened to the lowermost end of a support column (19) constituting the screw driving unit (21). A floor height variable type expansible/contractible multi-staged spectator seating system as claimed in Claim 3, characterized in that each of said screw driving units (21) comprises a rotational driving power source, a screw shaft (20) having a plurality of male threads formed thereon to be threadably engaged with a plurality of female threads (17a) formed in a second support member (17) fixedly secured to an intermediate support column (16) of each of said moving pulley units, and a support column (19) fixedly secured to each of said movable platforms (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F), the lowermost end of said support column (19) being operatively connected to the lowermost end of said screw shaft (20) for rotatably holding said screw shaft (20). A floor height variable type expansible/contractible multi-staged spectator operating system having a plurality of movable platforms (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F) being arranged in said spectator seating system, said plurality of movable platforms (1A, 1B, 1C; 1D, 1E, 1F) being successively expanded one after another in the forward direction when said spectator seating system is used and successively contracted one after another in the rearward direction when said spectator seating system is not used, the heights of said plurality of movable platforms (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F) as measured from the floor surface being successively increased, and moreover, being changeable as desired, a number of spectator's seats (10) being arranged on each of said movable platforms (1A, 1B, 1C; 1D, 1E, 1F) in a side-by side relationship, a plurality of movable wagons (2) supporting said movable platforms (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F) in the raised state or in the lowered state thereon, and each of said movable wagons (2) including a stationary support column (4) standing upright on the upper surface thereof; characterized in that said spectator's seats (10) are turnably raised up when said spectator seating system is used and turnably folded down when said spectator seating system is not used,and said plurality of movable wagons (2) are successively connected one after another, in that for the lowermost movable platform (1A) a screw driving unit (21) is arranged between said lowermost movable platform (1A) and its associated stationary support column (4) for adjusting the floor height of said movable platform (1A), a moving pulley unit is arranged between said screw driving unit (21) and its associated stationary support column (4) for adjusting the floor height of said lowermost movable platform (1A) in cooperation with said screw driving unit (21), a first suppoort member (13) is fixedly secured to the stationary support column (4) of said lowermost movable platform (1A), and a guide shaft (15) extends vertically through a hole in said first support member (13) of said lowermost support column (4), a pulley (18) is rotatably held at the lowermost end of said guide shaft (15), and a joint member (22) extends around said pulley (18) for operatively connecting said first support member (13) to its corresponding screw driving unit (21) via said joint member (22), one end of said joint member (22) being fastened to the lowermost end of a support column 19 constituting the screw driving unit (21), and in that for the remaining platforms, with regard to the lowermost movable platform (1A), the movable platforms (1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F) have each a screw driving unit (8) arranged between each of said remaining movable platforms (1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F) and each of their associated stationary support columns (4) for adjusting the floor height of each of said remaining movable platforms (1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F), and each of said screw driving units (8) comprises a rotational driving power source, a screw shaft (7) having a plurality of male threads formed thereon to be threadably engaged with a plurality of female threads (6a) formed in a support member (6) fixedly secured to said stationary support column (4) associated to each of the remaining movable platforms (1B, 1C, 1D; 1E, 1F), and a support column (5) fixedly secured to each of said remaining movable platforms (1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F), the lowermost end of said support column (5) being operatively connected to the lowermost end of said screw shaft (7) for rotary holding said screw shaft (7).

Inventors: SUGIYAMA NOBORU, SUGIYAMA, NOBORU, SUGIYAMA, NOBORU, C/O KABUSHIKI KAISHA KOTOBUKI
Applicants: KOTOBUKI & CO LTD, KABUSHIKI KAISHA KOTOBUKI
Application year: 1994
Main classification: E04H3
IPC codes: E04H3